Speaker 1: Welcome to Creature Feature, a production of iHeartRadio. I'm your
Speaker 1: host of Many Parasites, Katie Golden. I studied psychology and
Speaker 1: evolutionary biology, and today on the show, it's Fashion Beak
Speaker 1: or Week or whatever. We're slithering down the runway to
Speaker 1: talk about high animal fashion from hats to outer where
Speaker 1: does shabby chic? These animals are not born with it.
Speaker 1: They have meticulously crafted their fashionable attire from elements in
Speaker 1: their environment. To discover this and more as we answer
Speaker 1: the age old question why aren't we fact checking SpongeBob?
Speaker 1: Joining me today is the very fashionable and creative YouTube
Speaker 1: essayist Maggie Mayfish. Welcome. Hello.
Speaker 2: Maybe you don't fact check SpongeBob while.
Speaker 1: You watch it, but I do, got your clipboard.
Speaker 2: Everyone knows that it's funny when it's more accurate scientific accuracy. Yes,
Speaker 2: it is hilarious.
Speaker 1: Actually, Stephen Hilmberg, the creator of the show, I think
Speaker 1: he was a marine biologist and he kind of made
Speaker 1: the very typical career move to go from being a
Speaker 1: marine biologist to a SpongeBob creator.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if I had a nickel for every time.
Speaker 1: There were some biologically accurate jokes in the show, but
Speaker 1: we're going to discuss why they didn't always get it right. Now, Maggie,
Speaker 1: you are a YouTube video essays. Your videos are typically
Speaker 1: on film, but one thing I love about your videos
Speaker 1: is your sense of fashion that goes with the theme
Speaker 1: of the episode. So I feel like you are a
Speaker 1: very good guest to have on this episode about animals
Speaker 1: who make their outfits work for the situation.
Speaker 2: I can't wait what I say stall the preview of
Speaker 2: what we were going to be talking about today. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they had such a glee in my heart.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yes, So first we are going to talk about
Speaker 1: an animal that loves to wear a fashionable hat. So
Speaker 1: there are crabs called decorator crabs. You may have heard
Speaker 1: of them. They are not one species, but a whole
Speaker 1: variety of species who share one thing in common, a
Speaker 1: love for fashion. They will stick materials to their bodies
Speaker 1: for camouflage or to ward off predators. Today, we're going
Speaker 1: to focus on one type of decorator crabs, the sponge
Speaker 1: decorator crabs. These are decorator crabs who wear sponges so
Speaker 1: they are they.
Speaker 2: Pick them up with their with their claws without ripping
Speaker 2: the fabric. You'd think he'd rip right through. I hope,
Speaker 2: I hope that's in your notes, Katie.
Speaker 1: There's clause. I do actually have a letter on exactly
Speaker 1: how their clause works, so we will talk about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: They they're called sponge crabs. There's a whole family of
Speaker 1: them called Dromedae. There are over thirty species of sponge
Speaker 1: crabs that live off of Australia's coastline alone, and many
Speaker 1: others distributed near coral reefs. So there are a lot
Speaker 1: of these guys. They're very diverse. Sea sponges are, of
Speaker 1: course living animals themselves. They move independently as larva in
Speaker 1: an early stage in their life cycle, but once they
Speaker 1: mature they become completely sessile. That means that they stay
Speaker 1: in one location for the rest of their life usually.
Speaker 2: So it's like me, in my future retirement, I will not.
Speaker 1: Be moving, Gonna get one of those lazy boys of
Speaker 1: the future that you move around like a cross between
Speaker 1: a lazy boy and a segue with cup holders galore. Yes,
Speaker 1: but sea sponges typically don't move around, but as we'll
Speaker 1: discuss soon, there is exceptions. Sea sponges are actually really
Speaker 1: fascinating because they are unique in their cellular structure. Their
Speaker 1: cells can freely migrate throughout their bodies and transform to
Speaker 1: perform different functions. In this way, they have no organs
Speaker 1: or organized tissues, just a bunch of cells going around
Speaker 1: doing stuff.
Speaker 2: What that's what?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it works apparently.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So when a decorator crab tears off a piece of
Speaker 1: sponge and attaches it to its body, the sponge actually
Speaker 1: remains alive and can continue to grow and eat. And yes,
Speaker 1: sponges eat through many many mouths that they have, many
Speaker 1: of tiny mouths.
Speaker 2: Suddenly sponge has got a lot scarier than that I
Speaker 2: picture that.
Speaker 1: I mean, can you imagine in SpongeBob if all the
Speaker 1: holes in the SpongeBob just have little teeth? They don't. Actually,
Speaker 1: they don't actually have little human teeth, so don't worry
Speaker 1: about that, But they do have tons of mouths. So
Speaker 1: when a decorator crab tears off a piece of sponge
Speaker 1: and attaches it to their body, this sponge will actually
Speaker 1: grow around and will make a sort of customized bespoke
Speaker 1: little hat that perfectly molds over the crab's carapace.
Speaker 2: Wow, why haven't we invented that yet?
Speaker 1: Living clothing fabric that, yeah, grows around me. I agree.
Speaker 1: I would love to have living clothing that perfectly forms
Speaker 1: itself to my body. I mean, I guess that's kind
Speaker 1: of like what they do in the Last of Us, right,
Speaker 1: like like fungus that just grows around your body.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, that's pretty fashionable.
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it scary or is it fashion?
Speaker 2: Fashion can be very scary.
Speaker 1: Our skin, our skin is kind of like that, right,
Speaker 1: Like we do have skin which is sort of like
Speaker 1: living clothing.
Speaker 2: You know, the original clothing.
Speaker 1: I think Maggie's trying to pull it off, which uh.
Speaker 1: And I don't mean pull it off as and make
Speaker 1: it work. I mean pull it off as in remove
Speaker 1: it from her body and it's stop stop that. But yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: just remove the skin, put it in the washer. That
Speaker 1: is what we call exfoliation folks. So yeah, they will
Speaker 1: carefully trim the sponge with their little claws, uh, put
Speaker 1: it on their carapas like they're like their little tailor. Uh.
Speaker 1: And they actually hold it in place with small specialized
Speaker 1: back legs that bend upwards and cling onto the sponge.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, so wait they have two appendages. Is this
Speaker 2: the only purpose for those legs?
Speaker 1: Yes? Oh, they can't walk with them. They are the
Speaker 1: legs that have evolved specifically to hold their little sponge
Speaker 1: hats in place.
Speaker 2: That's like if we had two hands growing out behind
Speaker 2: our ears to hold.
Speaker 1: To hold in place. I'd love one that would hold
Speaker 1: my sunglasses and keep them from falling off my face
Speaker 1: when they bend over.
Speaker 2: That's nice. Or one to hold up the umbrella for you.
Speaker 1: Yes, an umbrella hand, this is what I've been saying.
Speaker 1: And then your two hands can do other stuff. But
Speaker 1: these crabs have it covered. They have specialized little back legs.
Speaker 1: They can't walk on them. All they do is hold
Speaker 1: that sponge in place. In fact, on the end of
Speaker 1: those legs are two little tweezer like pincers that they
Speaker 1: use to hold onto the sponge, just like the little
Speaker 1: tweezers hold on the sponge and keeps it on as
Speaker 1: a hat. And it's interesting because some species of decorator
Speaker 1: crabs or other animals that modify their looks will use
Speaker 1: like velcrow like hooks on their outer exoskeleton to like
Speaker 1: hold things in place. But the reason that they use
Speaker 1: these legs is they can actually take that hat off,
Speaker 1: that living sponge hat. They can remove it, which is
Speaker 1: important to say, Yeah, just so they can tip their hat,
Speaker 1: Milady crustacean Uh, but this is actually so that they
Speaker 1: can shed that outer carapace when they go through periods
Speaker 1: of molting, and then once they shed its exoskeleton and
Speaker 1: they start to regrow new one, they actually take that
Speaker 1: hat that they have, that specialize, very bespoke hat and
Speaker 1: put it right back on themselves. So they that basically
Speaker 1: they have one hat that they love. It's live, it's
Speaker 1: like their friend, it's their buddy, and it helps protect them.
Speaker 2: Wow. Do you think they have a little hat stand
Speaker 2: that they pop it on shed the maybe yeah, just.
Speaker 1: Like honey, I'm put on the hat stand outer breakout
Speaker 1: of your entire exoskeleton. Yeah, but yeah, the sponge not
Speaker 1: only is super fashionable and it is Maggie, can you
Speaker 1: actually like tell the listener what you see in some
Speaker 1: of these photos, because I mean, I'm hoping people google
Speaker 1: pictures of these because they're so cute. But these look
Speaker 1: like they're from like a studio ghibli film of mister
Speaker 1: crabs wearing little hats. They are so cute.
Speaker 2: They're like a furry bucket hats. All the rage of
Speaker 2: the nineties and forever in the ocean.
Speaker 1: They're coming. Bucket hats are back.
Speaker 2: They're back. They're back so back that I think they're
Speaker 2: about to be out pretty soon.
Speaker 1: Yeah, get them quick, put them on and take it,
Speaker 1: rip them right back off. But yes, they have these
Speaker 1: beautiful little sponge bucket hats that they are peeking out from,
Speaker 1: and they're like these these crabs tend to be like
Speaker 1: fairly small, you know, like maybe the palm of your
Speaker 1: hand size, So there, it's very cute. They look like
Speaker 1: little ocean fairies. But yeah, this sponge will offer them
Speaker 1: camouflage and that helps protect them from predators. But also,
Speaker 1: sponges are toxic and unpleasant to chew on, which will
Speaker 1: additionally help to deter predators because of their toxicity and
Speaker 1: the fact that have you ever tried to like eat
Speaker 1: a sponge I have, I'm gonna go firstly, Okay, when
Speaker 1: I was yesterday, Yeah, I would chew on sponges. They
Speaker 1: weren't very appetizing. I don't know why I still did it,
Speaker 1: but I definitely did it.
Speaker 2: Paper, so that's not much better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, glue was good, so is crans is good. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of things that felt like it should have
Speaker 1: been food. It wasn't, but we tried it wasn't. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I heard of like sponge cake. I have that memory
Speaker 1: of like, oh, sponge cake. Therefore I can eat a sponge.
Speaker 1: Didn't work so.
Speaker 2: Earlier, I mean a young scientist.
Speaker 1: Let's test the the the hypothesis. Can I eat sponge
Speaker 1: and answer? Maybe? So it's not known whether this is
Speaker 1: beneficial for the sponges, whether it helps the sponges feed
Speaker 1: or reproduce or disperse. So like, the nature of the
Speaker 1: symbiosis is unknown, but it is really interesting because this
Speaker 1: is a normally sessile animal, the sponge, that does not
Speaker 1: move around. And then in this case, with the help
Speaker 1: of these adorable little crabs, they are now mobile. They
Speaker 1: move around.
Speaker 2: Like a car, like a car, ride on their new car.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 1: Yeah they are, yes, I just I love these little guys.
Speaker 1: They're so cute. Some of the species are like kind
Speaker 1: of rotund, like they're very round and like they got
Speaker 1: little tiny faces. It's very very cute. Uh. Some species
Speaker 1: not only wear sponges, but the crab themselves are fuzzy
Speaker 1: and furry, such as the la mark droma beagle crab
Speaker 1: aka the fluffy crab who looks so cute and cuddly.
Speaker 1: I want to pet it. I don't think it'd want
Speaker 1: me to pat but I want to pet it.
Speaker 2: It'd probably be terrified. Yeah, it's so fluffy. It looks
Speaker 2: you can't hardly tell what's the amoebo and what's the crab?
Speaker 2: Just little balls and it's so funy, poisonous one crab.
Speaker 1: I would endure many pinches just to get a little
Speaker 1: bit of a pet in on this crab. Maybe, But yeah,
Speaker 1: what do you what do you think, Maggie, would you
Speaker 1: wear one of these beautiful sponge bucket hats.
Speaker 2: I feel like i'd wear the crab wearing the hat.
Speaker 2: The crab is so cute. I feel like it's part
Speaker 2: of the part of the aesthetic.
Speaker 1: We could really get a chain going. So you're wearing
Speaker 1: the crab wearing the hat, but you're in a car,
Speaker 1: and then the car is on a.
Speaker 2: Boat, and the boat's on a whale.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's end it.
Speaker 2: On a whale. That'd be cool. Do we not know
Speaker 2: that t rexes in their tiny arms wasn't to hold
Speaker 2: like a little tiny purse.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's a good point. I bet it was
Speaker 1: to hold a little clutch. Yeah, a little clutch.
Speaker 2: Be the perfect Yeah, a little furry, mossy clutch.
Speaker 1: I don't know that the hands are in the perfect
Speaker 1: position for clutch, holding clutch in one hand, apple TEENI
Speaker 1: in the other. I can see it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, cigarette body ear.
Speaker 1: What ear and holding it on its head in the
Speaker 1: hole is jammed in the in the ear hole. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: we're going to take a quick break while I try
Speaker 1: not to think about shoving a cigarette in my ear hole.
Speaker 1: And when I get back, we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: another aquatic fashionista called the coconut octopus. So we are
Speaker 1: back and there's another nautical fashion maven. This is the
Speaker 1: coconut octopus, and it's one of my favorite animals. Uh wow,
Speaker 1: I yes, I love octopuses and I love this this
Speaker 1: one is so it's so amazing in several ways, and
Speaker 1: its behavior it's very cute. So the coconut octopus is
Speaker 1: about six inches or fifteen centimeters long, half of which
Speaker 1: is the mantle, which is sort of like the main body.
Speaker 1: So they're not huge, shiny, that's the little guy. So
Speaker 1: it's body color can change and it ranges from reds
Speaker 1: to browns to light tants. So like most octopuses, its
Speaker 1: body can change, like it has these chromatophor cells and
Speaker 1: the color can change.
Speaker 2: I just learned recently that they it's like the layers
Speaker 2: of skin that give the different colors. Uh or yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm sure.
Speaker 1: Articulate the Yeah, so there's awesome. So there are yes.
Speaker 1: The in there's both pigment coloration and there's structural coloration.
Speaker 1: And for octopuses, I think they often they can use both.
Speaker 1: So both like the structural coloration in the pigment coloration
Speaker 1: because like structural coloration, it's basically when you think of
Speaker 1: like a prism and the light hits it and it
Speaker 1: refracts and you get like this rainbow of color. On
Speaker 1: the microscopic level, you will have the structure of cells
Speaker 1: of tissues that is basically refracting light back at you
Speaker 1: that you can see and it's this brilliant color. Like
Speaker 1: if you think of a morpho butterfly, that brilliant shiny
Speaker 1: blue is structural coloration of its scales. Pigment it is
Speaker 1: more that it is. It's similar in that you are
Speaker 1: basically seeing only the light that the pigment has not absorbed.
Speaker 1: So the pigment absorbs light, and then some light just
Speaker 1: can't be absorbed by the pigment, whereas with structural coloration,
Speaker 1: it's more that it's refracting the light back at you.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so both are in play with the octopus.
Speaker 1: It's really really cool. And then the coconut octopus has
Speaker 1: even a further fashion technique. It will take the coconut
Speaker 1: shells that it finds or clam shells, grab them and
Speaker 1: use them to hide its body in like this very
Speaker 1: cute reverse Pokemon move. Yes, in the back in the ball.
Speaker 1: It wants to be in the ball. So it can
Speaker 1: often find two halves of something, either coconut shells or
Speaker 1: some kind of nutshell or a clamshell, and they like
Speaker 1: to have two halves and basically seal themselves inside these
Speaker 1: two halves. It sounds made up, It sounds like a
Speaker 1: child's idea of what an animal would do, but they
Speaker 1: absolutely do this.
Speaker 2: Wow. Wow, do you think it's like a I dream
Speaker 2: of Genie situation. It's like inside there's like little.
Speaker 1: It got a lounge. Yeah, they've got like a little
Speaker 1: little octopus a lazy boy that rolls around. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I mean it is. They They are very squishy animals,
Speaker 1: and so they can fit actually into quite tight spaces,
Speaker 1: so for them this is probably nice and space spacious.
Speaker 1: They will also carry around this little fortress that they
Speaker 1: find with them, so they not only will seal themselves inside,
Speaker 1: they will often carry it with them so that if
Speaker 1: they get scared, they can just like whoop right back inside.
Speaker 2: Wow. Wow, this is blowing my mind, Katie.
Speaker 1: I do wish sometimes I could do that where it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, what's something I don't like. If I
Speaker 1: had a mailbox that I was just wearing over myself,
Speaker 1: and then if I saw someone that I didn't like,
Speaker 1: I could just go inside the mailbox and nobody knows.
Speaker 2: That sounds nice. It's like on airplanes, I wear one
Speaker 2: hat and a mask and eye covers and then a
Speaker 2: larger hat that goes right over it.
Speaker 1: Oh that's bliss.
Speaker 2: No one can see me.
Speaker 1: As long as you can still breathe through all of that,
Speaker 1: that's bliss.
Speaker 2: Just barely. That's all you need. You're in the air,
Speaker 2: there's a lot more you're surrounded by air.
Speaker 1: You know how air works. The higher up you go,
Speaker 1: the more air that is.
Speaker 2: It's a bit bit yeah, yeah, yeah, it just keeps.
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, that's how do.
Speaker 2: How do the octoput how do they keep the shell
Speaker 2: around them?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Is it the suction cups like pulling it in? Like
Speaker 2: how do they? Yeah, they use their carrier.
Speaker 1: Yes, they they're very dexterous, and they have those little
Speaker 1: little suction cups that can kind of stick on to things,
Speaker 1: and so they can very nimbly like manipulate these shells
Speaker 1: and like close them in around themselves. And when you
Speaker 1: see like videos of them doing it, it's just they're
Speaker 1: basically like picking up the shells and then like a
Speaker 1: little magic trick, they like shoop right inside. In fact,
Speaker 1: they can also walk on just two legs, so research
Speaker 1: have observed them walking bi pedally, so they like tuck
Speaker 1: in all of their legs except for two legs and
Speaker 1: sort of like in a squidward walk, we'll just walk
Speaker 1: on two of them. Sometimes they'll have like a coconut
Speaker 1: shell around them. Sometimes they're just balled up. And the
Speaker 1: idea is that when they're doing this, they are trying
Speaker 1: to imitate the shape and movement of like a floating coconut,
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of coconuts around where they live
Speaker 1: that have sunk to the bottom of the ocean and
Speaker 1: so like they are like, don't mind me, I'm just
Speaker 1: like a little floating coconut.
Speaker 2: Wow, wow, this is wild. Growing up, I had a
Speaker 2: coconut purse that was like, you know, I painted coconut
Speaker 2: with a little the whole time.
Speaker 1: And you had a not to put inside hang out.
Speaker 1: Never questioned it, Never question my pet, my pokemon. These
Speaker 1: really are like pokemon. Uh just it's so cute, Like
Speaker 1: you see it in this little coconut. They do it
Speaker 1: with with shells as well, like shelfish shells, but the
Speaker 1: coconut is really the perfect shape for this because it
Speaker 1: really forms this sphere. I've also seen a video of
Speaker 1: one of these octopuses trying to use like a cup,
Speaker 1: like a plastic cup and hide inside it, and some
Speaker 1: diver like goes down and starts giving it like various
Speaker 1: clamshells to try to get it to use something different
Speaker 1: than this, like transparent cup. That probably won't help because
Speaker 1: ocos like, oh nice, but it's transparent, so that's not
Speaker 1: quite going to help you.
Speaker 2: Oh it's a emperor's new clothes.
Speaker 1: I like to think that it was a king octopus
Speaker 1: that got tricked by a wily octopus tailor. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so it is also sometimes like just carry the coconut
Speaker 1: with them and then like their legs are draped over
Speaker 1: the sides and then just kind of like walking like
Speaker 1: they're doing a Fred Flintstone cart. Do you see that, Maggie,
Speaker 1: I've shared that gift with you. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I could not tell what was going on until you
Speaker 2: explained it, because yeah, it's just like his head sitting
Speaker 2: on top of the coconut and then running his legs
Speaker 2: around it.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's like did you ever when you were a
Speaker 1: kid like sit inside a laundry basket like on carpet
Speaker 1: and then like like scoot the laundry basket around with
Speaker 1: your legs. Yes, yes, this is what this is doing,
Speaker 1: except with the coconut. I think we're all deep down
Speaker 1: just little octopuses. You want to slide around in coconuts.
Speaker 2: On a coconut and then a coconut serve van slid.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, it's it's very cute, and it's something
Speaker 1: that with octopuses they have they are and there are
Speaker 1: a lot of mollusks that actually have shells, and octopuses
Speaker 1: do not have shells. They have traded their shells for
Speaker 1: greater squish ability, greater mobility. They can like fit into
Speaker 1: tight places. They're very quick and they can hunt better.
Speaker 1: But the trade off is that they're very squishy, so
Speaker 1: they don't have a lot of protections. So it's so
Speaker 1: amazing that this octopus has found a solution where it
Speaker 1: can remain squishy but finds something in its environment and
Speaker 1: where's it? And you know, some the biologists consider this
Speaker 1: to be a form of tool use, So tool use
Speaker 1: is something that does not just happen in primates, depending
Speaker 1: on your definition of tool, like, this octopus is using
Speaker 1: a tool like armor so that it protects itself. This is.
Speaker 2: I feel little, almost speechless. Yeah, maybe we shouldn't be
Speaker 2: ruining the planet.
Speaker 1: I don't know a great idea. Actually, I've never thought
Speaker 1: of not ruining the planet.
Speaker 2: It's just like, yeah, it just occurred to me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like wait, what if we didn't destroy all these beautiful,
Speaker 1: unique animals. But then again, I do really want a
Speaker 1: shirt that lasts for two days and then I have
Speaker 1: to throw it out because it's falling apart.
Speaker 2: That's true, that is what I want, Katie.
Speaker 1: All Right, So we're gonna take a quick break and
Speaker 1: when we get back, we're going to talk about another
Speaker 1: animal fashion expert. So, Maggie, what is your opinion on
Speaker 1: shabby chic or how to mess.
Speaker 2: I am into it. I was much more into it
Speaker 2: when I was young. I think there was one time
Speaker 2: but I redid my room and she.
Speaker 1: I was so old.
Speaker 2: Now, yeah, young, I mean like six this So that
Speaker 2: was when I was really starting, yeah, get into fashion
Speaker 2: and decorating. I was, as you can imagine it as
Speaker 2: a six year old. I was very good at it.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it's a it's a very valid aesthetic.
Speaker 1: It is. I remember for my like dress up games,
Speaker 1: I had no sort of inherent sense of things matching.
Speaker 1: I put every just putting everything on, like this skirt
Speaker 1: goes over this skirt which goes over pants. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: like and then a two two over that, and of
Speaker 1: course multiple pairs of sunglasses, one on my face, one
Speaker 1: on my head. Uh. And then also a hat, so
Speaker 1: every just everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a hat, stacker hat, put a hat, a hat
Speaker 2: under a large hat. No one ever told me it
Speaker 2: was only one hat is not communicated to me, have
Speaker 2: you seen that.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to remember her name. There's this fashion designer
Speaker 1: who makes these like extremely expensive clothes that look very
Speaker 1: like very tattered and kind of look like clown clothes
Speaker 1: a little bit. Do you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2: I'm picturing so many different things my in my mind.
Speaker 1: Okay, I think it's called magnolia pearl.
Speaker 2: Okay, oh yeah yeah, yah yeahah yeah. This is shabby chic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's shabby chic. It's like and what I'm looking
Speaker 1: at is someone wearing like a torn dress over jeans,
Speaker 1: work boots. I think a cowboy hat. That's interesting. This
Speaker 1: is not so much my style. I've got to say, like,
Speaker 1: I feel like my clothes get my clothes get torn
Speaker 1: and dirty without me paying hundreds of dollars. Uh.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Honestly, if you do like that this look, and
Speaker 2: you look it up and you like it, go to
Speaker 2: any goodwill, any state sale. You'll find something that you
Speaker 2: can work with.
Speaker 1: If you just rolled around in a good will, I
Speaker 1: think you could achieve the exact same look. Like close
Speaker 1: your eyes and just do like a Tasmanian devil, spin
Speaker 1: in a in a good will and you will actually
Speaker 1: probably come out looking better in my opinion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, First of glue on your body glues, that's right.
Speaker 2: When you roll around, it sticks.
Speaker 1: That's right. Well, the reason I bring this up on
Speaker 1: an evolutionary biology podcast is that there is an animal,
Speaker 1: a very small animal who loves shabby chic and comes
Speaker 1: out looking, in my opinion, like a magnolia pearl look
Speaker 1: actually probably better. So this is the green lacewing larva.
Speaker 1: So green lace wings already sounds very fashionable, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I love green, I love lace, and I can
Speaker 2: warm up to wings.
Speaker 1: I'm neutral about wings, but I could be convinced.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the other stuff I'll take.
Speaker 1: So they are a family of insects with a larval
Speaker 1: and adult form. The adult form looks actually kind of
Speaker 1: pretty pretty innocent as well. It's a small, green flying insect,
Speaker 1: no bigger than the tip of your finger. They are
Speaker 1: slender and green in color, with long, transparent wings that
Speaker 1: covers most of their bodies. And the wings are transparent,
Speaker 1: but they also have these intricate, visible, veined kind of
Speaker 1: structures on the wings, which is what gives them the
Speaker 1: name lace wing because like, if you kind of look
Speaker 1: at it looks a little bit like lace or something. Absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're prettyful. Yes, these are actually good. If you spot
Speaker 1: them in your garden, Like, don't freak out. They are
Speaker 1: really good predators of aphids, particularly in their larval form.
Speaker 1: So their adult form pretty cute, sweet, looks like little
Speaker 1: lace fairies. But then their larval form, they definitely have
Speaker 1: a bit of a glow up because they look pretty gross.
Speaker 1: I shared you a picture of this larval form. It
Speaker 1: is this. They are kind of like long almond shape
Speaker 1: with eyelash like projections on their bodies, which are also segmented.
Speaker 1: They've got this very fierce set of mandibles. They're kind
Speaker 1: of a yellow and reddish brown. So they're they're not
Speaker 1: fun looking. They're not they're not elegant.
Speaker 2: Nah, they look like they would be poisonous. I don't know,
Speaker 2: oh if they are or probably not, but that's the
Speaker 2: vibe gives off.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they give the vibe of like this is an
Speaker 1: alien that's going to crawl inside your worm and get
Speaker 1: in your brain and control your brain kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, or like I'm radioactive.
Speaker 1: Yes, you know, but they are actually not dangerous for
Speaker 1: people and they're good to have in your garden. They
Speaker 1: are very dangerous for aphids. Their nickname is aphid lion,
Speaker 1: and yeah, they are absolutely terrifying looking but they're actually
Speaker 1: quite shy, so they will do their best to dress
Speaker 1: themselves in whatever they can find in order to blend
Speaker 1: in with their surroundings. And so they will basically cover
Speaker 1: themselves with anything that they find, including plant fibers, twigs,
Speaker 1: mosschen dead insects, and this helps the like it actually looks.
Speaker 1: I think it's an improvement honestly from when they're Their
Speaker 1: nakedness is much more menacing looking than the outfits that
Speaker 1: they throw together. And this is to protect them and
Speaker 1: also to camouflage them so they can sneak attack aphits. Wow,
Speaker 1: is that what.
Speaker 2: Makes them such effective hunters? That they're carrying around their
Speaker 2: own bush pretty much?
Speaker 1: Heiden, They're like solid snake in the cardboard box they have.
Speaker 1: This This outfit both protects them from predators, it camouflages
Speaker 1: them from predators, and it camouflages them from their prey.
Speaker 1: So it's really a triple threat and fashionables.
Speaker 2: That's a quadruple threat.
Speaker 1: And something unique about them is that because they will
Speaker 1: basically throw whatever they can find on themselves, they're all
Speaker 1: their outfits are unique to the individuals. So every outfit
Speaker 1: that they wear is a new and unique work of art.
Speaker 1: That this insect has created.
Speaker 2: I gotta be honest, kiddy, I really don't like this.
Speaker 2: I don't like the way, but I think so far
Speaker 2: this is we went from very cute to disturbing in
Speaker 2: a way that I don't think I can. It's like
Speaker 2: it's like if I was wearing another set of skins,
Speaker 2: the vibes that's giving me.
Speaker 1: I mean that's essentially leather, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, which is why I don't wear them.
Speaker 1: You know, I only wear human leather.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, when I get.
Speaker 1: A sunburn, it's essentially human leather. So no, I mean
Speaker 1: it is interesting. They do kind of look like a
Speaker 1: trash pile, but that's intentional. And you can really see
Speaker 1: sort of like some of them just like it looks
Speaker 1: like they have like a white puffball on them, or
Speaker 1: like weird little squiggly plant fibers. One is just like
Speaker 1: covered in lichen. One has like orange plant fibers and
Speaker 1: some dead spiders and like it looks like an empty
Speaker 1: cocoon on it. Another one has a bunch of like
Speaker 1: I think some spider web dead bugs on it. Another
Speaker 1: one is just like a total mixture of like dead
Speaker 1: bugs like in plant fibers.
Speaker 2: O will Pellet.
Speaker 1: Yeah, does look like it might awesome doodoo feces on it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and so they you know, I guess it's a little
Speaker 1: lavant guard. I understand it's a little avant guard for
Speaker 1: some people's tastes. But it look if this is an art,
Speaker 1: how is a Jackson Pollock art which basically looks like
Speaker 1: bird doodoo?
Speaker 2: It does look like bird totally.
Speaker 1: Looks like it looks like bird doodoo, like after birds
Speaker 1: ate some skittles. Oh my god, I like it. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying I don't like it. In fact, I like
Speaker 1: it because as it looks like bird dodo after a
Speaker 1: bird aids, since.
Speaker 2: You're describing a beautiful scene. Absolutely it evokes.
Speaker 1: It evokes rainbow bird poo poo. But yeah, so they
Speaker 1: have so many varieties of outfits, and I understand that
Speaker 1: this phase of their life is awkward, maybe not so cute.
Speaker 1: But we've all gone through that phase of fashion in
Speaker 1: our lives.
Speaker 2: We've all tried shabby chic and realized that it just
Speaker 2: makes your house look kind of old a little bit,
Speaker 2: which is sometimes good but sometimes not what you're looking for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've all, all of us have gone a little
Speaker 1: too far with boho, but like I have if I
Speaker 1: can be vulnerable. I did for a minute in college
Speaker 1: wear skirts over pants. Wow, yeah, I know, you're so cool. Yes,
Speaker 1: cool is what I want. My thinking was, it is like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't want, like what if someone can see my
Speaker 1: underpants when I'm wearing the skirt, so I need the
Speaker 1: pants under the skirt. But the skirt is good, so
Speaker 1: I should wear pants under the skirt.
Speaker 2: They put that fear into you as a young feminine person.
Speaker 2: That's right, any moment, any show it, any moment.
Speaker 1: Any moment, someone could see my SpongeBob underpants and we
Speaker 1: can't have that messing.
Speaker 2: Yes, so it all costs.
Speaker 1: So to metamorphosize into adults, they actually wrap themselves in
Speaker 1: a small, white egg shaped cocoon, and once they are ready,
Speaker 1: they will cut their way out of the cocoon, managing
Speaker 1: to slice open the top of it and emerge in
Speaker 1: this adorable and fashionable entrance. It's actually really cute because
Speaker 1: they make a very like, actually precise incision off the top.
Speaker 1: It looks like you took an exacto knife and just
Speaker 1: cut away the top of this little cocoon. And then
Speaker 1: the top of the cocoon it's like, for a minute,
Speaker 1: it's like their little hat that they're hatching out of.
Speaker 1: It looks like a cartoon chick, like perfectly popping out
Speaker 1: of an egg, except that it's a bug.
Speaker 2: That's a pokemon right there.
Speaker 1: It is a Pokemon. Look at it, durable, it's a
Speaker 1: Pokemon in like an oval shaped poke ball. It's so cute.
Speaker 2: It's like that top comes off like a Ukrainian egg, like.
Speaker 1: Very yeah, or like a Faberge egg, like just like
Speaker 1: hinged right off. It's it's very cool. And even lace
Speaker 1: wing eggs have a bit of style, so they are
Speaker 1: laid so that they're attached to a leaf or a branch,
Speaker 1: but instead of being just laid directly on the surface,
Speaker 1: they are delicately balanced on top of a long, thin stock,
Speaker 1: so they actually look like these tiny, strange round flowers.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I almost asked if the photo is upside down,
Speaker 2: because surely they're hagging.
Speaker 1: No not yeah, no, they're just like they're just hanging out, well,
Speaker 1: hanging up, hanging up, and uh, it's very it's very
Speaker 1: strange and alien looking. This is actually to protect the
Speaker 1: eggs from ants who would happily consume the eggs of
Speaker 1: the lace wing, particularly because ants and aphids have a
Speaker 1: symbiotic relationship, so ants don't necessarily like lace wings eating
Speaker 1: their little uh domesticated aphid herd. But this is the
Speaker 1: technique that the lace wing has to protect them from
Speaker 1: being eaten by ants.
Speaker 2: But yeah, very political, it is.
Speaker 1: It is, you know, honestly, when you zoom in on nature,
Speaker 1: it gets very political. There's a lot of there's a
Speaker 1: lot of sort of you know, inside baseball going on
Speaker 1: negotiation negotiation forums. I've used all the political words I know.
Speaker 1: Uh yea, But yeah, if you see these in your garden,
Speaker 1: you should leave them be because the little hatchlings, those
Speaker 1: horror looking little things with a terrible sense of fashion,
Speaker 1: we'll eat aphids, white fly, and other small garden pests.
Speaker 1: In fact, often they're available commercially for people to put
Speaker 1: in their gardens because they's such a it's not just ladybugs,
Speaker 1: it's also these guys that help you keep pests out
Speaker 1: of your garden without using pesticides.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely remember these guys flying around my dad's garden.
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, they're very cute. But I had no idea
Speaker 2: they they have a whole idea. Seen their final form yeah.
Speaker 1: They have a very awkward teenage phase.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's not a day to tell me about I'll
Speaker 2: always be awkward mal.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, before we go, we gotta play a game. Maggie.
Speaker 1: Do you want to play the Mystery Animal sound game.
Speaker 2: I'm so excited. I've been practicing.
Speaker 1: Just like listening to random animal sounds. Yeah. Yeah, call
Speaker 1: me part of my meditation, the soothing call of uh
Speaker 1: a whale, powler, monkey, howler monkey. So, last week's mystery
Speaker 1: animal's sound hint was this, Please chew with your mouth closed, Bruce.
Speaker 1: All right, Maggie, did you hear that? Yes?
Speaker 2: I initially I thought it was like a panda eating
Speaker 2: bamboo until it made that other noise.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: Baby, I want to say, like cricket, a cricket, but
Speaker 2: it can't be a cricket. It can't be a cricket,
Speaker 2: and it almost sounded like a bird. But I guess
Speaker 2: I'll say cricket.
Speaker 1: That's not right. Sorry, you lose, you get dunk in
Speaker 1: the tank. But yes, this is a young gray headed
Speaker 1: flying fox from a bat rescuer. So this one is
Speaker 1: from a bat rescuer on YouTube named Megabatty. This little
Speaker 1: baby bat is talking with her mouth full. She is
Speaker 1: squeaking angrily at something while chewing down on some fruit.
Speaker 2: Okay, that all makes so much more sense. I love bats.
Speaker 2: If I could have a bad as a pet, I would.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not recommended on account of the rabies and
Speaker 1: so on and other zoonotic diseases, but I agree. I
Speaker 1: feel like if I could get like one, sort of
Speaker 1: like free pass for a pet with like no negative consequences,
Speaker 1: no ethical concerns. Bat is definitely a top contender, especially
Speaker 1: a flying fox, because their faces are so cude. Oh
Speaker 1: they look they look like little I don't know. They
Speaker 1: have the faces of a cute little Chihuahua and then
Speaker 1: the body of an amazing weird flying animal.
Speaker 2: So yeah, my cousins had a sugar squirrels.
Speaker 1: Uh oh sugar letters.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, and I was like that, but a little
Speaker 2: bit more goth.
Speaker 1: A little more goth. Yeah yeah, No, I like the edge,
Speaker 1: I like the edginess. But yeah. So. Gray headed flying
Speaker 1: foxes are huge megabats found in Australia. They're actually the
Speaker 1: largest bat found on the continent. They have a wingspan
Speaker 1: of over three feet or around a meter, so you know,
Speaker 1: wing tip to wing tip they're pretty big. Uh. They
Speaker 1: eat fruit, but they will also eat nectar and pollen,
Speaker 1: and sometimes they're cute little faces get covered in yellow
Speaker 1: pollen dust. It's very cute. It's like they're trying to
Speaker 1: eat a powdered doughnut. They get powdered sugar all over
Speaker 1: its face, except that it's pollen, which is which is
Speaker 1: great for flowers because then if they move on to
Speaker 1: another flower, they will then pollinate that flower.
Speaker 2: Spread it out. So the entertainment for the evening, if
Speaker 2: you will.
Speaker 1: So onto this week's mystery animal. Sound the hint. I
Speaker 1: hope it doesn't have a sore throat. That would be
Speaker 1: a doozy. Oh, Maggie, got any guesses?
Speaker 2: Whoa? I mean, it sounds huge, so it'd be hilarious.
Speaker 2: If it's really small, it's the most set I wish. No,
Speaker 2: I'm jed I would be able to hear it coming.
Speaker 2: I got five times.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, yeah, yeah, yeah, they love me. I
Speaker 1: don't love them back.
Speaker 2: If I had a guess, I would say toad because
Speaker 2: I don't want to think it's a giant.
Speaker 1: Interesting guess. Well, we will find out on the next
Speaker 1: episode of Creature Feature. If you think you know who
Speaker 1: is making that sound. You can write to me at
Speaker 1: Creature Featurepod at gmail dot com. You can also write
Speaker 1: to me with questions and I try to answer them
Speaker 1: either on the show in special listener questions episodes, or
Speaker 1: I'll just reply to you or try to telepathically answer
Speaker 1: your message. Let me know if that were.
Speaker 2: Oh, I just got one.
Speaker 1: Oh thanks, Uh it's like Katie, this is just a
Speaker 1: picture of a hamster butt exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It answered everything I.
Speaker 1: Asked, Maggie. Thank you so much for joining me. Where
Speaker 1: did people find you?
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for letting me come on and
Speaker 2: learn about Really, I got some fashion types I felt like,
Speaker 2: So this was good for me.
Speaker 1: Thinking. I can tell you're rethinking the lace wing fashion fashion.
Speaker 1: It's warm, it's warming up to it.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I am. Right after this. I'm gonna buy a
Speaker 2: fuzzy bucket hat hopefully made out of a living other
Speaker 2: crew the Ship of the US.
Speaker 1: Those were a thing, Yeah, the furry bucketing.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, pink fuzzy. I had one with like clouds.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 2: I don't think I was ever actually cool enough to
Speaker 2: wear it because they were like so.
Speaker 1: In yeah cool girls. Yeah No I I I didn't
Speaker 1: wear the pink fuzzy bucket hats myself, just just the
Speaker 1: skirts over jeans.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that other cool.
Speaker 1: Very cool.
Speaker 2: It was very cool.
Speaker 1: I I think Charlie's there on more at once, so obviously,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 2: Speaking of Charlene, I love her. And you can find
Speaker 2: me online on YouTube just at my name maganete Fish,
Speaker 2: and I guess on the other websites. Definitely, on Instagram,
Speaker 2: kind of on Twitter, I don't really. I love my cats.
Speaker 2: Look at my Twitter at this point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it's it's I'm saying, it's like a slow
Speaker 1: It's like a slow and magnificent train crash on Twitter.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm cheering it along. I don't know if you've
Speaker 2: ever seen like a parade that starts like, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: just Domino.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, people falling over Yeah yeah, it's yeah, it's
Speaker 1: you know, I'll be in that parade just falling over
Speaker 1: the next person. But yeah, yeah. I actually just very
Speaker 1: very recently started a TikTok because apparently that's a whole
Speaker 1: that's a whole thing. So I'll be doing animal related
Speaker 1: content on TikTok. My TikTok is Katie Golden, just k
Speaker 1: a t I E G O L D I N
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm a little baby, I'm a widow baby
Speaker 1: on it. I've only posted like twice, but yeah, if
Speaker 1: you want to check that out, I'd be so grateful
Speaker 1: and thank you so much to the Space Cossics for
Speaker 1: their super awesome song XO. Lumina Creature features a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts like the one you just heard,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app Apple Podcasts, or Hey, guess what
Speaker 1: where have you listened to your favorite shows? D next
Speaker 1: Wednesday